Tim Godsall is an accomplished spotmaker as evidenced by the DGA Award nomination he received for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials based on his work in 2010–specifically for DirecTV’s “Opulence” out of Grey New York, Hyundai’s “Bull” from Innocean Worldwide Americas, and HBO’s “Eastbound & Mom” for BBDO New York.
Known for his offbeat brand of dialogue and performance-driven comedy, Godsall has also helmed notable fare for other brands such as Axe, Old Spice, Southern Comfort, ESPN, FedEx and Xbox, much of which was done during his lengthy tenure at Biscuit Filmworks. However, he recently shifted his production house affiliation over to Anonymous Content for spot representation in the U.S., U.K. and Europe, a change that grew out of a relationship that developed while Anonymous produced Godsall’s upcoming feature film debut, Len and Company.
This past spring, Godsall began production on Len and Company, which stars Rhys Ifans, Juno Temple and Jack Kilmer. The film centers on Len Black (Ifans), a successful but miserable music producer who flees to his house in upstate New York to start a period of self-imposed exile, only to have his solitude shattered by his estranged son (Kilmer) and the pop sensation (Temple) he has created.
SHOOT caught up with Godsall who reflected on his first feature as well as his new roost for commercialmaking.
SHOOT: What drew you to Anonymous Content?
Godsall: Originally I was just talking to Steve Golin [Anonymous’ managing partner/founder] about making a feature film.
We ended up making it, and it was a great experience for me, so the idea of working with Anonymous across other platforms just made a lot of sense. They have amazing directors, I was already friends with [Anonymous sr. executive producer] Eric Stern–and everyone there seemed very pleasant and smart. It just felt right all around.
SHOOT: It’s said that one discipline informs another. How did your commercialmaking experience inform–or what did it enable you to bring to– your first feature?
Godsall: I guess it gave me the big advantage of having been on set a thousand times, so there was no mystique or confusion about the filmmaking process itself. Given that we were on such a tight schedule, it would have been impossible to learn on the job.
I’ve spent years experimenting with the technical side of things like camera placement, camera movement, lensing, lighting…and I’ve also had years doing the human side of it, working with actors and crew.
SHOOT: On the flip side, now that you have wrapped your first feature, what does that experience now enable you to bring back to your commercial making?
Godsall: I probably learned new ways to work with actors. I think it’s always going to be different with every actor (whether in ads or films or plays) in terms of how they like to work and what enables them do something which seems authentic, but working with actors who are so dedicated and thoughtful on a daily basis for weeks on end just makes you smarter and better by osmosis. I hope.
SHOOT: What was (were) the biggest creative challenge(s) that Len and Company posed to you as a director?
Godsall: Tough one.
Writing the screenplay (with my co-writer Katie Knight) was really all consuming and hard for a while. Writing and re-writing.
But from a directing standpoint, probably the biggest thing was rushing to set things up 10 times a day and then switching gears to allow breathing room for the actors to inhabit a given scene. Not letting the real need to keep moving at a relentless pace infect the actors’ world, or their performances.
SHOOT: How did you get the opportunity to direct your first feature? Share some backstory on the project.
Godsall: I had known Steve Golin for a little while. I wanted to know what he thought of the script once it was finished because I trusted his opinion. He read it and asked me a bit about how I saw the movie, and who I imagined as the lead. I told him some of my ideas and mentioned Rhys Ifans as the only guy I could imagine in the role. Within days, the script was in Rhys’s hands. Rhys liked it, and then I met with him. Rhys said he would play the part. Steve said he would find the money.
It was shockingly simple in the end.
